Electrical terminal sockets are well known in the art, one primary application of which being in the automotive field for establishing connections between an output cable and related components. The frictional grip imparted by the terminal must be of sufficient strength to maintain firm mechanical and adequate electrical connection, yet must permit relatively easy manual withdrawal or insertion of a prong into the socket.
According to application Ser. No. 10/079,206, filed Feb. 21, 2002 and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/951,012, filed Sep. 14, 2001, they provide a line contact between male and female terminals because of the manner in which the angled and hourglass contact beams are constructed. These applications demonstrated many significant advantages for these angled and hourglass beams.
The U.S. Ser. No. 10/079,206 application discloses a two piece design and in which the spring cage usually exhibits a thickness in the range of 0.3 mm to 0.6 mm, and a sleeve thickness in the range of 1.0 mm to 1.8 mm. Pin size ranges from 6.0 mm to 14.0 mm for high current applications. Due to differences in thickness, it has been found that the two piece design is unavoidable for high current applications. For medium and low current round pin terminals, however, the sleeve thickness can be reduce to the same thickness as its spring cage, therefore a one piece design is possible, especially for terminal sizes ranging from 0.40 mm to 4.30 mm diameters.
Additionally, these size terminals typically have a conventional round pin design, usually in two or more pieces, and which increases the manufacturing complexity and number of components. Therefore, the cost is high and also the point of contact from each spring beam between male and female reduces the current carry capability of the terminal.